The students hope to take their designs from the page to an East Lubbock landmark.

More than $70,000 in grants has already been targeted for the museum project, which
aims to transform the Caviel Building.

An ambitious class of Texas Tech landscape architecture students hopes to take its design concepts for the first African-American museum
in West Texas from the drawing table to an actual East Lubbock landmark.

More than a dozen students from the university presented their plans Wednesday (Nov.
2) to the Lubbock Roots Historical Arts Council. Among the design highlights were open-air theaters, winding tree-shaded paths,
as well as art and history exhibits highlighting South Plains’ black history.

The projects are part of an effort to transform the Caviel Building, a historic East
Lubbock pharmacy. Alfred and Billie Caviel are believed to be the first African-American
husband-and-wife pharmacy team in the United States. The Caviels donated the pharmacy
to provide Lubbock with its first African-American history center.

“It’s great for students to work with people in the community who share a common
vision,” said Melissa Currie, an assistant professor in Texas Tech’s Department of Landscape Architecture.

Ten of Currie’s fourth-year undergraduates and five graduate students presented their
projects to the Roots Historical Art Council. Each group of students had more than
five large project sketches, including 3-D plans and renderings.

In preparation for the student project, Currie conducted research on ways of incorporating
civil rights awareness into urban design. Then her students were required to research
the civil rights movement and East Lubbock history and find ways to incorporate the
concept into their work.

More than $70,000 in the form of a grant has already been targeted for the museum
project, said Eric Strong, director of the Lubbock Roots Historical Arts Council.
Looking ahead, Currie said the council will decide what parts of each project will
be incorporated in the center’s final design. A construction start date has not
been finalized.

The college also consists of eleven research centers and institutes, including the
Cotton Economics Research Institute, the International Cotton Research Center and
the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute.